Camping 27/05/25 - 01/06/25
Jun. 22nd, 2025 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
satyricaI was back at work on Tuesday and didn't get away until nearly 7 but had an evening in to continue festival-recovery, then on Wednesday we had one of our Vauxhall meet-ups: N & I rendez-vousing with W (who I'd only seen briefly at Bearded Theory, so could properly catch up with about his festival) and K&D in the (slightly unloved) bar/food-stalls set-up in the arches at Vauxhall, which was really lovely.
After two days back at work, on Thursday I disappeared again to head off camping: luckily we had the morning to get ourselves ready, then lugged our stuff over to M's for just after lunchtime, where we packed her car, collected E from nursery, then drove on down to Marshwood Farm in Wiltshire once more for camping with KES lot. We were all only doing half a week this time, which felt about right to me: TQS and E, E&A and most of the Hornes had come down the night before, with the Robinsons and ourselves joining Thursday afternoon. N had come so we were in a bell tent again this time, which at least meant minimal set up. It was lovely to see everyone and we did a lot of chilling out around the campsite: Em had prepared a chilli to feed us all with, whilst J&E had brought an oversized bottle of champagne for us to celebrate their 15th Wedding Anniversary with them.
I hadn't done too badly for sleeping at Bearded Theory but between the light, the birds and the sheep, I pinged awake very early on Friday and snuck out of the tent (not very successfully, given some very loud zips) at about 5.30 to hang out in the hut, so I could enjoy the early morning peace without disturbing N. As they move towards a more consistently teenage demographic the kids were generally up less early to join me this holiday (although little I was already there when I got up on Friday, meaning she ended up stroppy and overtired at the end of the day. As we eased into the day, the main activity of the day turned into a trip to a local cheese shop (and general deli) that N had heard tell of. TQS gave us a lift [getting stuck in some police-halted traffic for a while whilst a lorry transported what appeared to be half a house through a village] and J&E also came before E headed off back home to see to responsibilities there. Back at camp, the Sucharovs arrived and in the afternoon we all (minus N, looking forward to some child-free time) walked up through Dinton Park to the recreation ground in the village, where we sat on the grass with our cans while the kids hit the playground. We walked back to camp, where S conjured up a pasta dinner for everyone and we had a fire at night.
I managed to sleep until 6am on Saturday, then once we were all up TQS drove N & I to the big supermarket in Salisbury to do a shop for the BBQ we were having that evening. We all ventured out to Old Wardour Castle in the afternoon sun, which despite being a ruin had a surprising amount still going on inside the parts that remained, and the adults lounged on the grass while the kids (and a couple of adults too) ran around playing 'the wave game' which never seemed to tire. E came back in the evening, bringing eldest son T with her, who it was good to see, although they drove home again after the BBQ which, despite some false starts with some unsuccessful fuel, ended up working out well, what we had bought being supplemented by some offerings from CostCo that T&T had brought along and a fantastic cheesecake which Miri had whipped up.
I was up at 5.20 on Sunday which was departure day and we all rounded up belongings, packed-up tents and ate exciting combinations of leftovers for breakfast as we fairly efficiently cleared out by mid-morning. M drove us back to West Hampstead, only for us to find that the Met, Jubilee and Mildmay lines were all down and the Ubers we tried to book cancelled on us, so we eventually managed to lug all our stuff home via the Thameslink and Victoria lines, somewhat frazzled. I immediately crashed out on my bed, with all my unpacked bags around me, for a much longer nap than I intended, but did still have time to head out to do a shop and then had Family Zoomtime in the evening.
After two days back at work, on Thursday I disappeared again to head off camping: luckily we had the morning to get ourselves ready, then lugged our stuff over to M's for just after lunchtime, where we packed her car, collected E from nursery, then drove on down to Marshwood Farm in Wiltshire once more for camping with KES lot. We were all only doing half a week this time, which felt about right to me: TQS and E, E&A and most of the Hornes had come down the night before, with the Robinsons and ourselves joining Thursday afternoon. N had come so we were in a bell tent again this time, which at least meant minimal set up. It was lovely to see everyone and we did a lot of chilling out around the campsite: Em had prepared a chilli to feed us all with, whilst J&E had brought an oversized bottle of champagne for us to celebrate their 15th Wedding Anniversary with them.
I hadn't done too badly for sleeping at Bearded Theory but between the light, the birds and the sheep, I pinged awake very early on Friday and snuck out of the tent (not very successfully, given some very loud zips) at about 5.30 to hang out in the hut, so I could enjoy the early morning peace without disturbing N. As they move towards a more consistently teenage demographic the kids were generally up less early to join me this holiday (although little I was already there when I got up on Friday, meaning she ended up stroppy and overtired at the end of the day. As we eased into the day, the main activity of the day turned into a trip to a local cheese shop (and general deli) that N had heard tell of. TQS gave us a lift [getting stuck in some police-halted traffic for a while whilst a lorry transported what appeared to be half a house through a village] and J&E also came before E headed off back home to see to responsibilities there. Back at camp, the Sucharovs arrived and in the afternoon we all (minus N, looking forward to some child-free time) walked up through Dinton Park to the recreation ground in the village, where we sat on the grass with our cans while the kids hit the playground. We walked back to camp, where S conjured up a pasta dinner for everyone and we had a fire at night.
I managed to sleep until 6am on Saturday, then once we were all up TQS drove N & I to the big supermarket in Salisbury to do a shop for the BBQ we were having that evening. We all ventured out to Old Wardour Castle in the afternoon sun, which despite being a ruin had a surprising amount still going on inside the parts that remained, and the adults lounged on the grass while the kids (and a couple of adults too) ran around playing 'the wave game' which never seemed to tire. E came back in the evening, bringing eldest son T with her, who it was good to see, although they drove home again after the BBQ which, despite some false starts with some unsuccessful fuel, ended up working out well, what we had bought being supplemented by some offerings from CostCo that T&T had brought along and a fantastic cheesecake which Miri had whipped up.
I was up at 5.20 on Sunday which was departure day and we all rounded up belongings, packed-up tents and ate exciting combinations of leftovers for breakfast as we fairly efficiently cleared out by mid-morning. M drove us back to West Hampstead, only for us to find that the Met, Jubilee and Mildmay lines were all down and the Ubers we tried to book cancelled on us, so we eventually managed to lug all our stuff home via the Thameslink and Victoria lines, somewhat frazzled. I immediately crashed out on my bed, with all my unpacked bags around me, for a much longer nap than I intended, but did still have time to head out to do a shop and then had Family Zoomtime in the evening.
